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Vester
How to Pronounce Vester
Pronounced VES-tur /ˈvɛstər/High
Meaning: Vester is a clipped form of Sylvester, the Latin name Silvester built on silva, 'wood' or 'forest', with the sense 'wooded' or 'of the woodland'. Used mostly for boys, it also appears for girls in early American records, where the trimmed form was given as a stand-alone birth name rather than a nickname.Low
Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data
U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.
SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.
History & Origin
Vester is a pared-down form of Sylvester, the Latin Silvester from silva, 'wood'. Like many trimmed names of its day, it was written on birth records as a full given name, borne by both girls and boys in rural America around the turn of the twentieth century.
It was never widespread, drawing only a couple dozen girls a year at most around 1919 before slipping away by mid-century. A girl named Vester then would belong to a great-grandmother's era now, and the name reads as a plain, old-country short form rather than a modern choice.
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Frequently Asked
What does the name Vester mean?
It's a short form of Sylvester, from Latin silva, 'wood' or 'forest'.
How do you pronounce Vester?
It's said VES-tur /ˈvɛstər/, two syllables, stress on the first.
Is Vester a boy or girl name?
Vester is used as a girl's name.
Is Vester a popular name?
No, it was always rare, seeing only scattered use in the early twentieth century before fading.